The Magic of Dithering
Like Duolingo, but for The Magic of Dithering. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
Free during early access · No credit card · iPhone & Android
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo turns The Magic of Dithering into a game you actually finish. Levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that make it stick. Five minutes a day.
Where The Magic of Dithering takes you
Learn how computers use clever patterns of dots to show millions of colors with only a few. Master the art of tricking the human eye to make digital images look smooth and beautiful.
- 1
The Basics of Pixels and Colors
- How Screens Show Color
- The Problem with Limited Colors
- What is Dithering?
- Tricking the Human Eye
- 2
Simple Ways to Dither
- Random Noise Dithering
- Using Fixed Patterns
- The Checkerboard Method
- Ordered Dithering Explained
- Creating Your Own Threshold Maps
- Pros and Cons of Patterns
- 3
Spreading the Error
- What is Error Diffusion?
- The Floyd-Steinberg Method
- How Math Moves the Color Mistakes
- Why Some Images Look Grainy
- Comparing Different Diffusion Styles
- 4
Dithering in the Real World
- Dithering in Old Video Games
- How Printers Use Dots
- Modern Uses in GIFs and Web Design
4 sections · 18 units · 54 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
When your screen wants to make a picture, what three special light colors does it mix together?
Get it right to open this lesson and 53 more in the app.
You pick the voice
The Magic of Dithering is taught in the Explain Like I'm 5 style: no big words. promise.. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
More Technology on Tomo
The Secret Life of Crosswalk Buttons
Go beyond the 'Walk' sign to discover the hidden logic and complex engineering behind pedestrian signals. Learn how these buttons communicate with traffic grids and why they don't always work the way you expect.
Digital Art in Motion: The World of Demoscene
Discover the underground culture where programmers and artists push computers to their absolute limits. Learn how tiny files create massive visual spectacles and how this community changed the gaming industry forever.
The Secret World of Phone Hackers
Travel back to a time when the world's phone lines were a giant playground. Discover how early hackers used plastic whistles and homemade boxes to explore the global network for free.
Talking to Databases with SQL
Learn how to store, find, and organize information using SQL. This course takes you from your very first query to joining complex tables like a pro.
Inside the Machine: Mastering Computer Hardware and Networking
Go beyond basic setup to understand how modern hardware communicates and solves complex problems. Learn to diagnose deep-seated system issues and build robust local networks from the ground up.
The Architecture of Intelligence
Go beneath the interface to explore the mathematical engines and data structures that allow machines to predict, reason, and generate. Learn how simple patterns scale into the complex behaviors of modern AI.
Start The Magic of Dithering today.
Download Tomo, search The Magic of Dithering, and play your first lesson in under a minute.